New classes

Most of the classes (6) remained the same as the first semester, but some (4) changed.

So Sunday has one new class, replacing philosophy: Introduction to visual culture. From what I understand it’s the discipline of looking purely on the visual aspect of art, separated from the historical and social and whatnot context. Just the impressions the sensory input makes. Which sounds great in principle, but so far it’s been rather abstract. Hopefully we’ll get more concrete concepts soon.

Next up, a lesson with a mouthful of a name I’m just gonna call Between Art and Cinema. I know the name is somewhat vague, but so far, so is the lesson. We’ve seen some video-art, modern and post-modern art, and it’s been on the verge of interesting. Sure, there’re some interesting ideas here and there, but it’s mostly highbrow art – the kind enjoyable mostly to a relatively small community, the kind that tends to be too pleased with itself, the kind that can seem as little more than finding original ways of conveying banal messages. I might elaborate on my conflicting feelings regarding this sort of art sometime, but there’s not enough room in this blog post.

Third is Animative Thinking, claimed to be the most important course we’ll have by the teacher (purely objectively, of course). It does look promising, though – the teacher seems to mean business and to have the experience to deliver. It’s the next step after Animation Fundamentals – now that we can animate, we learn WHAT to animate. How to use the unique aspects of animation. Which sounds absolutely fantastic. Sadly we’ve only done stop-motion so far, which is a shame (and a pain in my bum), but I think we’ll get more freedom in the future.

And finally, Still Photography. I’m optimistic but weary – on one hand I’ve heard the teacher can be ridiculously harsh in critique. On the other hand, from what I’ve seen, he’s just really into photography – he’s to the point, he knows a lot, and he seems to have real passion. And if I have to take overly harsh criticism to learn from a truly competent and passionate teacher, I think I can handle it. So far we’ve learned how to operate the camera; now, I believe, we’ll get into the real meat of the lesson.

So some lessons look great, some not, but overall I’m happy because of one thing – less video shooting, which as you may recall, I hate. Although I AM genuinely optimistic, because I’ve really enjoyed my studies so far, and I believe this tend will continue. ‘Till next time!